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Sitting on my sofa I realized that I have spent the past 40 years collecting vast quantities of LPs, tapes and CDs, not to mention Blu-Ray audio discs, SACDs, DVD-A and high resolution files – and all I have to show   it is a lot of clutter and an empty wallet. Once  you acquire Roon integrated with Qobuz – you have reached sight of digital audio nirvana. While there are few things as pleasurable in life as listening to, for example, a perfectly pressed Music Matters Blue Note LP, the ability to stream the same recording in high res straight into your hi fi system is pretty close. Of course, with Roon you can stream it to any wireless device in the house (including your tv); with any of the premium streaming services you can bring a compressed version with you on your smartphone. It is simply stunning.

By the by – my current Roon set up is an Intel NUC mini-computer (about 600 euro), connected directly to my router, connecting to my DAC by a cubox-I mini computer programmed with Roon (about 300 euro or less if you use a Raspberry Pi). You can buy a decent DAC, such as the wonderful Project Dac box pre for 300 euro – plugged into a quality power amp (or you can buy an amp with digital inputs) and speakers and you have a really good hi-fi system for less than 2 grand. A lifetime Roon subscription is $500 and worth every penny. Of course you could spend thousands on a “network steamer” – the majority of which seem to be relatively empty boxes with a single motherboard – don’t believe the hype – 1s and 0s have no audio signature – how information goes from the internet into your DAC is irrelevant as long as you have bandwidth.

The greatest resource for music information during the internet age has been the Allmusic Guide. I actually have the Allmusic books – Jazz, Rock etc. from the 1990s, which appear quaint now. Although Wikipedia does list and give information on most music releases, allmusic sets the context, the backstory and reviews the recording. It is invaluable and it is fully integrated into Roon. Better than sleevenotes.

A Qobuz substription with High Res Streaming runs at euro 250 per year (300 if you want to buy – and of course I do – seriously discounted high res downloads). That works out at about 1/3^rd of the price of a cup of gourmet coffee per day. Colleagues of mine baulk at this – it is the price of about 20 CDs, 15 LPs or 2 mobile fidelity one-step vinyl releases. If you are disciplined – you never have to buy or own music again. No clutter. No thousands of CDs gathering dust in the attic.

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Due to the sheer crapness of modern rock, indie, folk, electronic music, I spent the winter and early spring listening almost exclusively to jazz. I principally listened to a number of artists whose music I had accumulated but to whom I had given little focus: Eric Dolphy, Art Pepper, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Stan Getz and Bill Evans. For some reason I have long been slightly prejudiced against west coast jazz – due to its whiteness and purported “cool” vibe. Big mistake. The trigger for my interest was a CD box set that I bought several years ago – called Jazz Train – Concord Records 30 CD Jazz Collection (Original Jazz Classics). Over the years I have obsessively listened to Blue Note, Prestige, ECM, Impulse, Columbia Jazz, Prestige etc. but not Contemporary Records – the LA imprint of Lester Koenig. However, I read a posting by Michael Fremer  about Sonny Rollin’s “Way Out West” – a record that I have enjoyed for many years on CD and vinyl, and became intrigued by the record label and its output. And that’s when I discovered that I had the crown jewels in the Concord box set.

The Concord Music Group actually owns the output of a wide variety of great labels – but whoever put this box together is a genius. Every CD is fantastic – and makes the basis of a top notch music collection. There is also an Impulse box, a couple of Columbia boxes, a French “American” records box etc. that were tremendous value 6 or 7 years ago when the CD era was fizzing out. Indeed, the Concord box contains CDs from many of their labels, not just Contemporary – quite a few are on Riverside (about which more in later post).

I decided to work my way sequentially through the box set and give each CD my undivided attention. And then I heard “Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section.” OMG! Apparently Pepper was so strung out on drugs that he was unaware that he was booked to play with Miles Davis’ band that morning, had nothing prepared and his saxophone was gummed up. Rarely in history has such beautiful spontaneous music been produced. For a generation, like mine, who have principally grown up listening to honking tenor sax – Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons, Hank Mobley etc. – the alto seems like it comes from a different instrument family. Instead of the sheer dynamic range and power of the tenor, the alto requires speed and finesse – and a greater sense of melody. Art Pepper plays with a great sense of lyrical beauty. I became obsessed.

Fortunately, Art Pepper’s recorded output is relatively limited – unfortunately that was because he spent much of his life in jail for taking drugs. His autobiography, Straight Life, is one of the most harrowing reads I have ever encountered. He details his development as a young musician in the racially mixed Central Avenue of LA, being discovered by Benny Carter and his involvement with the Stan Kenton Orchestra (before and after WW2). His solo output commenced in the early 1950s – but this period coincided with escalating drug abuse and a concomitant zero tolerance policy by law enforcement. One wonders if Pepper would have been better off emigrating to Europe circa 1955 – like Bud Powell or Dexter Gordon. He stayed on the West Coast and spent much of his peak years in San Quentin. Eventually he went into a rahab facility/alternative lifestyle group, Synanon, in the early 1960s – met his third wife, Laurie, and entered a methadone programme. He died of a brain haemorrhage (“stroke”) in 1982 at the age of 56.

There are no bad Art Pepper albums – everything is good, much is extraordinary. His career can be divided into three phases- the 1950s – when he was with Contemporary: Rhythm Section, Getting Together, Intensity, Smack up and Art Pepper + 11 are all superb. The early 60s were non productive. In the mid to late 60s, Pepper switched to Tenor and attempted to ape John Coltrane, not very successfully – I can see the reason – for a whole generation the tenor was considered the sexy and commercially viable instrument. Fortunately, there is little recorded output from that time. He then joined Buddy Rich’s big band in the late 1960s, which restored his confidence.

Once his life stabilized in the 1970s, there was a Pepper renaissance and everything he recorded at that stage is worth a listen. I particularly enjoy his return to Contemporary records – Living Legend. This was now music of the 1970s, darker, more emotional – the work of a man who lived a hard life. His live recordings at the Village Vanguard (3 or 4 albums) are terrific, but my most treasured acquisition is a 7 LP box set of Pepper playing at Ronnie Scott’s in 1980.

It is scandalous that there are no recent vinyl audiophile reissues of Art Pepper’s great albums – Meets and +11. Early pressings and the Analogue Productions reissues (from 2003) are extremely expensive. The best new pressings are OJC US reissues, likely digitally sourced – but excellent sounding, from 2011. European buyers beware – all of this stuff is pre 1963 copyright free material – CD sourced and released on Jazz Wax, Waxtime or DOL: avoid. Just buy the CD. Concord could do a lot worse than handing Kevin Grey the master tapes of the 5 albums listed above and releasing an audiophile Pepper box.

The later recordings are easy to come by from Discogs, however a 16 CD mammoth box set – the Complete Galaxy Recordings (1989) – is savagely hard to find and expensive. A good selection of albums are available on SACD  – Meets the Rhythm Section, …The Way it Was, New York Album, Intimate and a few more. The only one I can find on hi res PCM is +11. Analogue Productions are selling a few of the Pepper SACDs as DSD downloads (Meets is only at single rate but I would be strongly confident that, for $25 you will never hear a better version). If you are rich or obsessed – they are selling the New York Album on ¼ inch tape for $450.

The strange thing about Art Pepper is that you can play any record at any time and it fits any mood. This is possibly true also of Bill Evans. When one listens, particularly to the 1950s output, it is hard to tie together the strung out junkie to the wonderful sound emanating from the horn.

Thanks Art Pepper for brightening up my winter.

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ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2018

I’m putting up an albums of the year list here, but, honestly, this has been the worst year for popular music that I can remember.

1. Villagers ‎– The Art Of Pretending To Swim
2. Bodega – Endless Scroll
3. Decemberists – I’ll Be Your Girl
4. Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
5. The Lemon Twigs – Go To School
6. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
7. Harmony Rockets With Special Guest Peter Walker – Lachesis / Clotho / Atropos
8. Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood – With Animals
9. Hugh Cornwell – Monster
10. Ash – Islands
11. Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds
12. Franz Ferdinand – Always Ascending
13. Spiritualized – And Nothing Hurt
14. Gretchen Peters –  Dancing with the Beast
15. Pistol Annies – Interstate Gospel
16. George Ezra – Staying at Tamara’s
17. Prince – Piano & A Microphone
18. Richard Thompson – 13 Rivers
19. Parquet Courts – Wide Awake
20. Ry Cooder – The Prodical Son
21. Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer
22. Suede – The Blue Hour
23. Laura Viers – The Lookout
24. Elvis Costello – Look Now
25. MGMT – Little Dark Age

I enjoyed the following, but they are not of the same calibre as the artist’s best work:

• Muse – Simulation Theory
• Field Music – Open Here
• The Vaccines – Combat Sports
• John Grant – Love Is Magic
• Cowboy Junkies – All That Reckoning
• The Jayhawks – Back Roads And Abandoned Motels
• Paul Weller – True Meanings
• Cat Power – The Wanderer

JAZZ

1. John Surman – Invisible Threads
2. John Scofield – Combo 66
3. Tomasz Stanko  – December Avenue
4. Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, Scott Colley, Brian Blade – Still Dreaming
5. DeJohnette, Grenadier, Medeski, Scofield – Hudson
6. Andy Sheppard Quartet – Romaria
7. Charles Lloyd & The Marvels + Lucinda Williams – Vanished Gardens
8. Charles Lloyd & The Marvels + Lucinda Williams – Vanished Gardens
9. Kamasi Washington – Heaven And Earth
10. Lee Konitz & Dan Tepfer – Decade
11. Chick Corea – Chinese Butterfly
12. Sons of Kemet – Your Queen is a Reptile
13. John Coltrane – Two Directions at Once
14. Eric Dolphy – Jazz Prophet
15. Miles Davis/John Coltrane – The Final Tour (Bootleg Series Vol. 6)

I haven’t had a chance to listen to these but suspect that they are really good:

• Yo La Tengo – There’s a Riot Going On
• Phoshopescent – C’est La Vie
• Shame – Songs of Praise
• JD Allen: Love Stone
• Wayne Shorter – Emanon

For the life of me, I couldn’t get into “Double Negative” by Low, even though it was one of my most anticipated albums of the year. I’ll listen again, probably.

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Wolf Alice have won the Mercury Music Prize for the album “Visions of Alice” – thank God, the shortlist was atrocious. Unfortunately, for the time being, Rock music seems to be dying – and what is left is full on Retromania. What is startling is that Rap is nearly 40 years old, and remains particularly popular – despite it’s obvious limitation. Anyway the autumn has been more productive: Paul Weller has released another excellent album that I listened to, enjoyed and forgot. Suede have, today released “The Blue Hour” (I’m listening to it now): they have gone full on prog – and this is great – for longivity their recent albums have all been derivative of “Dog Man Star” – and certainly they should now be considered one of the great all time rock bands. I am also really enjoying Jonathan Jeremiah’s new album – it is great (as are all of his records) – I seem to be his only fan in this part of the world (I had to get the album in from Germany – including a CD (first time in ages)).

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By this time each year, most years, I would have posted my “albums of the year – so far” list. But not this year – I couldn’t be bothered – the selection of records released is atrocious and I have all but given up buying Mojo and Uncut magazines (after about 30 and 20 years respectively) as there is – nothing new.

I have bought a few records – some of which (Arctic Monkeys) have yet to bite. Here are a few that I have enjoyed – I admit that there is a strong whiff of dad rock:

Neil Young (Promise of real) – The Visitor
Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds
Ash – Islands
Field Music – Open Here
Franz Ferdinand – Always Ascending
John Bramwell – Leave Alone The Empty Spaces
Charles Lloyd & The Marvels + Lucinda Williams – Vanished Gardens
Andy Sheppard Quartet – Romaria
Kamasi Washington – Heaven And Earth
Ry Cooder – The Prodigal Son

In any case – the reason for my rant is the list of Mercury Prize nominees is out – and, frankly, it’s ghastly.

Here’s the list – mostly ok albums from artists that have done better in the past (in particular Sons of Kemet). My vote is for Wolf Alice.

2018 Mercury Music Prize Nominees

Arctic Monkeys – ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’

Everything Everything – ‘A Fever Dream’

Everything Is Recorded – ‘Everything Is Recorded’

Florence And The Machine – ‘High As Hope’

Jorja Smith’s – ‘Lost & Found’

King Krule – ‘The Ooz’

Lily Allen – ‘No Shame’

Nadine Shah – ‘Holiday Destination’

Noel Gallagher – ‘Who Built The Moon?’

Novelist – ‘Novelist Guy’

Sons Of Kemet – ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’

Wolf Alice – ‘Visions Of A Life’

It is worth having a look at the prize nominees from 20 years ago – the 1998 Mercury Music prize (don’t know what happened to 4hero – some great records here – Gomez won – I still listen to it):

1998 Mercury Music Prize Nominees

Asian Dub Foundation – Rafi’s Revenge

Eliza Carthy – Red Rice

Catatonia – International Velvet

Cornershop – When I Was Born for the Seventh Time

4hero – Two Pages

Gomez – Bring it On

Massive Attack – Mezzanine

Propellerheads – Decksandrumsandrockandroll

Pulp – This is Hardcore

John Surman – Proverbs and Songs

The Verve – Urban Hymns

Robbie Williams – Life Thru a Lens

The 2008 list was pretty good also (Elbow won):

2008 Mercury Music Prize Nominees

Adele – 19

British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?

Burial – Untrue

Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

Estelle – Shine

Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim

Neon Neon – Stainless Style

Portico Quartet – Knee-Deep in the North Sea

Rachel Unthank & The Winterset – The Bairns

Radiohead – In Rainbows

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of the Understatement

Note that the prize is for the UK and Ireland – in the above lists for 3 separate years – not a single Irish artist listed. Apalling and sad.

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I couldn’t resist it – the email from music direct that announced the release of “The Nightfly” from Mobile Fidelity – using UltraDisc One Step. The ultimate luxury edition – even though I can’t stand 45rpm records (they sound great – but you no sooner sit down than you’re up again flipping the record). Bear in mind that I already have 2 vinyl versions (my original 80s record that still sounds great and a newer reissue that I received as a gift and haven’t played yet), 2 DVDA versions, 2 CDs and another vinyl copy in the “Cheap X-Mas” box set. It sounds good – (and I’ll talk about the one step process in a different post) yes – but that is not the point of my post.

As I eagerly awaited my copy of “The Nightfly”, I pondered how low a number I would get – surely below 1000, hopefully lower than 500. In fact, my copy is number 35xx – about as “collectable” as any random vinyl release (which probably number less than 5000). In early December I went to my local record shop and picked up a copy of U2’s “Songs of Experience” – superdeluxe box – numbered 12,xxx. A few minutes later, I went into the other, now closed, store – and there was a copy on the shelf – numbered 9xxx. Arrragh – that was 3000 copies later. For a moment, I pondered a return of the one I bought – and then realized how ridiculous the whole situation actually was. Firstly, if you believe in this numbered mumbo jumbo – only the first couple of hundred would be in any wall collectable – the lower the better. Second – what the heck does the number actually mean?

I have no idea how many copies of Super Deluxe Songs of Experience were produced – maybe 30 or 40K (maybe 13K!) – but the numbering must be specific to the box. There is no difference in boxing from one box to another, nor presumably anything inside the box except the vinyl records. So, if the numbering was to matter, then there would have to be a correlation between the number and the quality of the record. Does anybody really believe that box number 875 contains the 875th record pressed? Absolutely not – for all we know it was the 1875th record pressed – presuming the pressing plant(s) pressed up all of the albums in one large batch. The boxes were likely made and numbered elsewhere. Also, presuming that the stampers punch out fewer than 1000 albums each (maybe 500 or 600), even if they were sequential in pressing order, clearly album 1375 would be a fresher pressing than number 575. But, of course, if you believe in the whole “hot stamper” thing, then there is a massive difference in the quality of pressing from one to the next. So the number means NOTHING. I seem to be incapable of getting hold of any record with a low number – but I have a few Mobile Fidelity records that are numbered below 1000 and below 500 (Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle, Elvis Costello), some in the 1000s (Lynyrd Skyynrd, Allman Bros, Miles Davis) and some in the 10,000s (Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks). The lower numbered pressings don’t sound appreciably better to me. Moreover, I have records from the 1970s and 1980s that I bought back then, on 120g or 140g that sound significantly better than the modern 180g virgin vinyl (presumably digitally sourced) re-issue – where the number pressed would be fewer and the stampers more limited.

In conclusion, I think that the numbering of records (and don’t start me on SACDs) is a distraction that is of close to no significance with regard to the quality of the pressing and the sound of the album. Of course, if I ever get a MOFI with number 5 or 15 or 50, I might think otherwise…..

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There has been a solid increase in vinyl records sales, year on year, since 2007. So, the “vinyl resurgence” has been going on for a decade. Every week, during that period, I have come across an article in a newspaper, magazine or on-line about how vinyl is saving the music industry. This is nonsense. The vinyl resurgence will plateau and then fade out, gradually. To understand this, you need to know just who buys vinyl records.

Vinyl record buyers (mostly men) fall into the following categories: record collectors, audiophiles, physical music enthusiasts, music “fans”, middle age nostalgia hunters and hipsters.

Record collectors are serious people. They are of close to no value to the music industry because they are principally interested in historic recordings – records that hold significant value – such as mint early pressings of the Beatles or Stones. They purchase in secondary markets from one another. While record collectors might bother with occasional limited edition box sets or record store day exclusives, they have close to no interest in new music – the motor of the industry.

Music enthusiasts (myself included) like physical products and typically have large collections of records, tapes and CDs. They are major players in the vinyl resurgence as, typically, they spend a lot of money at once for records – old and new. However, after 10 years, presumably, the enthusiast has already purchased most of the historic recordings that they would have wished for (including rare copies on discogs or ebay) and so are limited to new releases (every year the quality of new popular music declines) and gimmicks – such as box sets, re-issues etc. Sooner or later enthusiasts will run out of product to buy and, more importantly, space to store their records (which was why we all liked CDs and MP3s in the first place. Also, they are getting old……

Music “fans” are individuals who love specific bands/artists and wish to have memorabilia by them. If you love Ed Sheeran or Queens of the Stone Age, sure – that vinyl record that will never be played is a nice item – but these folks are not long term vinyl buyers. In fact, the industry’s failure to invest in anything but bubblegum pop for the last 15 years has resulted in a dearth of bands for teenagers and young adults to follow and become passionate about. Who will be filling arenas in 10 years time – 80+ year old Rolling Stones and U2?

Nostalgia hunters are typically middle aged people who got rid of their records 30 years ago and bought CDs, and then came back and bought the same records again. This appears to me to be the major motor of the vinyl resurgence (see below) – and it will not last. There is only so many copies of Sgt Pepper and the Dark Side of the Moon that you can own, really. Nostalgia hunters are only interested in buying records that they liked when they were 13 or so – not what is being released now (and frankly, given the state of retromania – who can blame them?). What is particularly frightening is the prospect of the current group of teens and young adults when they reach nostalgia age – there are so few bands and so few great records out there – what will they buy? 1990s era reissues are great – and will continue to sell – but 2005 to 2017 – not great music years.

Hipsters – they move on to the next cool thing.

Below is a list of the top 20 selling vinyl albums in the UK in 2017. I have highlighted in red the original 2017 releases – literally only 1 – Rag’n bone Man is a “new artist”. It looks like Oasis fans are holding the whole thing together.

Below is a list of the top selling vinyl albums in the US in 2017. What is frightening here is the fact that the largest selling vinyl album of 2017 was released 50 years ago. Of course, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Chris Stapleton and Eminem are not listed here – which proves my point. I would like someone to explain to me the (frankly) unbelievable popularity of “Back to Black” by Amy Winehouse – a fine album to be sure – on CD – it is almost certainly the WORST modern vinyl pressing that I own. Moreover, despite nearly all of the recordings below originating from the analogue era – each one of these records was digitally sourced (i.e. unlikely to be better than CD). The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack was great fun – but really – a Spotify playlist on vinyl?

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I confess, I have become fatalistic about record shops. A new one, Head Records, opened in Galway during the autumn, in a mediocre shopping center location. I am familiar to the brand – they had an excellent store in Belfast, and two ok stores in Dublin. The Galway outlet was bigger and they had an excellent range of CDs and vinyl – it really was a good store for those getting into vinyl. However, I found the place quite expensive, with very standard fare – no audiophile stuff, very limited Jazz etc – and my back catalogue is pretty full. I didn’t think that the store would last.

Just after Christmas, I dropped by and there was a 20% off sale (i.e. prices now comparable with the internet). I bought a few records. I came by the next day and the sale was over. I came by two days later and the shop was closed. As usual, when record shops close, I go into mourning. However, I figured that this was a cynical Christmas “pop up” shop, that closed after the holidays. I was wrong. The whole chain collapsed and went into liquidation – the employees were given no notice. This is devastating for anyone interested in owning physical product.

The music retail industry is on its knees – forget the vinyl revolution bump – I’ll address this myth in my next blog – if there is nowhere to flick through a vinyl rack – or impulsively buy a CD from the rack, physical product sales will plummet and die. Even if it is in a neglected corner of FNAC or Urban Outfitters, there has to be somewhere for us to buy records.

Head Records – Galway October 2017 (note – scarily empty of customers).

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